The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1887-05-06
DEATH OF GOLF. WHITE
PRESIDENT OF TIE MISSISSIPPI
AND TENNESSEE RAILROAD,
And One OF the Most Esteemed Citi.
gems OF This Section Of the
Country.

, nOnoreu anu respected as president Of
the Mississippi and Tennessee rail.
road, died at $3.50 o'clock last night al
the Gayoso Hotel. He was Ill only 9
few days, and his extreme age and Sc
we're attack proved too much for his
usually great vitality. Dol. White " ls
born in Jones county, Ga, December
Is, 1910, on the plantation where the
cavalry under Col. Iveeon captured
the Federal troops under Msjor Gen.
eral Stonemsn, in 1854. His father
was a planter, and went to Geergisi
from Virginia, where the family is
we'll known. The young man was cd
ucated as q planter, and removed to
North Mississippi in 1910. From there
he came to Memphis in 1859.
He entered mercantile lite
in 1866, under the firm
name OF F. M. White 4 Co., which
continued as one of the leading estab.
lishments OF the city until 1879. In
that year he vas bought ont by his
son and Messrs. Young and Caldwell,
the firm name changing TO J. W, Cald-
we'll 4 Co. Dol. White was the frs,
president Of the Mississippi and Ten
nessee railroad, which was chartered
in 1852, begun In 1854 and completed
in 1860, and remained in this office
until last year, when he was made
first vice president. As q sample
of his generosity, love Of prog
ress and desire to promote
railroads it is only necessary to
state that at one time the road owed
him $50, 900 For this indebtedness he
took second mortgage bonds at 30
cents on the dollar, when they were
worth only 20 cents on the dollar.
The remains will be taken to Como,
Miss., on special train leaving the
Mississippi and Tennessee depot at
II o'clock today.
Deceased was a communing men,
Der of Calvary Church, and an init
mate friend OF Bishop Quintard, who
was at his bedside when death came.
The Bishop will conduct the funeral
ceremonies at the & ave at Como.
Col. Calvin 81. Vance, treasurer OF
Mississippi and and Tennessee railroad,
and an intimate friend and associate
Of the deceased for several years past,
furnishes the following tribute.
One OF the prominent members OF
society In Memphis and North Missis-
sippi has just passed away. An init
mate association OF over thirty years
gives me an insight into his qualities
as a man and his faculties for business.
/ see him in the long track OF past
years-when In afIluent circum-
stances and when cramped In his Pc
cunisry resources when fortune smiled
upon him and when adversely looked
him in the face; and he was always
honest, sensible, bluff, kind hearted
Frank White. In business, managing
plantations and railroads, he showed
marvellous common senHe. His judg-
ment seldom erred. The great weak
ness OF his character was his credulity
a. to the honest character OF other
people. Whenever an insidious
scoundrel won his confidence he was
certain to be betrayed in pecuniary
leases. l have heard him say that since
the war he had paid over 100000 OF
security debts. Before the war he
was princely planter OF Pamela
county, Miss and had a prineely in
come. The war freed about 200 slaves
he owned, and struck down the value
OF his plantations; but he never sue
cumbed to these or other mis-
fortunes, and ever displayed an
equsble and cheerful temper.
And so good was his heart
that he did not speak harshly OF those
people even who involved him in pc
cuniary loss. The country, as we'll "a
HIS family and friends, got the benefit
of his ability and wealth.
He pioneered the Mississippi and
Tennessee railroad, and it may ba
truthfully said tina! the road would
never have been constructed had it
not been for his iDdomitable energy
the confidence Of capitalists in his
management, and the Undertaking
loans OF his own private
income TO it's expenditures,
and although the road WAS bsnkrupted
by the war; and what he did for II
after the war can best be exemplfied
by an extract from his report to the
Board Of Directors, Novemb Der /, 1856.
Says he: "0n the 1st OF May, 1855,
We operated only thirty miles OF road
the remaining seventy miles was
mere wreck Of a railroad-bridges
DESTROYED, trestle work and cul-
verls rotted by time and dis
use, depot and division houses and
water tanks DESTROYED, orossties
rotted, track torn up, entertainments
reduced to skeletons, with hardly
enough rolling stock TO make no one
train. Such was the picture presented
by your road at that date. Neither
were we comiorted by its financial con-
dition. Without an available dollar
in its treasury and no assets with
which money could be realized; an
accumulated interess on funded in.
debtedness, and a large floating debt
besides, held BY needed creditors i'm
poverished by the war, we had TO
commence the gigantic tssk of recon-
structing the road"
And the gigantic task was consum.
mated at The date Of the report. Trains
were running through from Grenada, |
Miss, due to his good sense, practical
management and the credit which |